by Willsin Rowe
Her face darkened for a moment, but she shrugged it away. “Nothing. Just… well, for what it’s worth, he’s not the kind who’d cheat, so you don’t have to worry about him trying anything.”
“Why doesn’t he live with her, then?”
“You know, I really don’t know that. Why don’t you ask him when he arrives?”
“Well, I can’t just… what? He’s coming over?” I could feel my eyes bugging as I scanned around the room. “I haven’t cleaned!”
“Since this morning, you mean? Luce, settle down. I took matters into my own hands, precisely because I knew you’d fight it. But I also know that he’ll be a great housemate. It’s like, y’know… kismet or some shit.”
“I’ll give you kismet, girlie. Right up the—”
A heavy knock at the door interrupted me.
“That sounds like him.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You can tell just from a knock?”
“Well, no, but I can see the street from here and I watched him come up the path.”
“Smart-ass.” I raised my voice so the guy could hear me. “Who is it?”
His voice was slightly muffled by the door, but it was deep and strong. “Hi, Lucy? My name’s Mark Hobson. I think Toni told you about me?”
“Just a minute.”
Despite my resistance, I decided to put on a brave face, and walked steadily to the front door, grasping the handle and taking a calming breath. And as I pulled open the door, I wondered if I’d ever breathe again.
Toni had said he was gorgeous, but that was the understatement of the century. This guy had flown straight past gorgeous all the way to oh-my-god-just-let-me-touch-him-and-I’ll-die-happy. Thick, wavy, dark hair framed a broad face that must have been designed by Michelangelo. His eyes looked like melted chocolate, all smooth, hot and tempting. His delicious full lips were curled into a half-smile that disarmed me completely. Lips that promised way more than I could afford to imagine.
“H–hhhiii. I’m, uh...” Hell. What’s my name again?
“Lucy?” He held out his hand and I looked at it for a second, studying the long fingers that looked like a pianist’s. I wondered if he played. I wondered what else he might do with those things if I… stop it!
“Y–yes. That’s right. I mean, that’s me.” I finally grasped his hand and shook it, and the smoothness of his skin felt almost like satin. His large frame spoke of strength, yet his grip and his warmth were so soft and caring. Just standing over me in the doorway, it was like he was somehow shielding me, though from what I had no idea.
When he spoke again, the smooth tone and deep sound of his voice were like a blanket. “Wow. I’m sorry, this is gonna sound forward, and kind of strange, but… your hair is beautiful, Lucy. I thought you were a brunette.”
“Wh–what?” I couldn’t find the words to phrase my question. Why would a man I’d never met be thinking about my hair, let alone getting the wrong idea about it? It was the strangest introduction I’d ever heard.
He seemed to sense my confusion. “Yeah, y’know, because… oh, wait. You don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?”
2
Toni called out from behind me, cutting through my confusion. “Hi, Mark. Come on in.”
This was not a good start. Three seconds after meeting him and already I was utterly flummoxed. It could be argued my ovaries were whipping my brain into submission, perhaps, but whatever the cause, Mark had me at a loss trying to work out what exactly I was meant to remember.
“Hey, Toni. Hi.” He stepped through to greet her, the wisp of his scent beckoning to me. A light touch of cologne, something woody and oceanic, mixed with the hint of a lavender laundry detergent. And just a little suggestion of healthy, hard-won sweat. The mix of scents curled into my nose and flicked a little switch of some kind. I could have sworn it was familiar, but I figured it was probably just my hormones playing games with my head. For everything good Toni had told me about him, all I could sense was trouble. No man could be that beautiful—and lithe—without an enormous dose of cockiness as well.
Mark embraced Toni, kissing her cheek like an old friend. “Congratulations, T.” He lifted her hand and examined the enormous diamond on her finger. “Holy hell. I think I’m caught in its gravity. Someone help me!”
She blushed at the close contact. Her fiancé Robert was a pretty good-looking guy and all, but not anywhere near the beauty of the man before her.
She slugged his shoulder. “Oh, stop it. Robert’s had a good couple of years with his business. Besides, I’m worth it.”
He hugged her closely. “You sure are. I hope one day I’m as lucky as he is.”
I closed the door with more force than it needed, hoping to get things back on track. Ideally, I could rule this guy out as quickly as possible and then start the process of finding the right girl to move in.
Folding my arms, I tried to look aloof and defensive. “So, Mark. You’d like to take Toni’s place here?”
He unhanded my housemate and turned back to me, a damnably sexy smile curling across his mouth. “Well, nobody could take Toni’s place.”
My friend slugged her friend again. “Stop it, you sweet-talker.”
His laugh was as smooth as the pretty mouth it came gliding out of. “But sure, if I can. I know I probably don’t seem like what you’re looking for. You’re used to living with Toni, and she’s neat and quiet and… well, female.”
I shot a glance at Toni, trying to work out if she’d coached him on what to say. She pulled her cellphone out of her handbag.
“I think I just got a text. Did you hear it go off?”
I turned back to Mark. “Well, yes. I’ve lived with boys before—”
Toni looked up from her phone screen. “Smelly boys, you said, didn’t you Luce?”
If looks could julienne, Toni would have been a small pile of chips on the floor. “Yes, I’ve lived with boys before, but not for a while now. And I’ve only ever lived with boyfriends. So forgive me if I don’t jump for joy at this idea.”
I ran through my head the list of complications of living with a guy. A shortage of neatness, a surplus of noise and just that general sense of invasion and domination that seemed so natural to every man on the planet. Plus with a heavenly work of art like this particular man—girlfriend or no—I was certain I’d be pounded time and again by stupid sexual tension. I could already feel the beginnings of it in my belly, just from the way he engaged me with his eyes. Like he was looking inside me and rummaging around. Finding a few nice toys he could play with later.
Long ago I’d made the intractable decision never to start fooling around with housemates. And that rule hadn’t been tested, since I only lived with girls, or with guys I’d previously started fooling around with. But this tall, tanned and utterly scrumptious man had me questioning the strength, and especially the stamina, of my resolve. I would never throw myself at a man. But if I slipped, I could easily fall for one like Mark.
“Luce?”
Toni’s voice pulled me out of my internal ramblings. “What?”
“You were miles away. I thought you’d gone into a coma or something.”
“Sorry. It’s just that this is such a huge step for me to even think about taking.”
Mark rubbed his chin for a moment. “Okay, I get it. You need convincing. I heard the kettle boiling before. How about I make you some tea? I’m a wizard in the kitchen, for whatever that might be worth.”
“Good idea, handsome.” Toni seemed determined to make this thing happen. “But a word of warning… put everything back exactly where you found it.”
He grinned and I felt tingles all through my body. Damn.
When he left the room I pulled Toni aside to whisper sour somethings at her.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m
solving your troubles.”
“No, you’re potentially solving one trouble by presenting me a hundred more. It’s like you’re asking me to open Pandora’s box!”
“I am solving your problem. I’ll leave the… box opening all up to you.”
“Seriously, T, stop it. You’re pushing like crazy to make this happen and I don’t know why. You know my feelings about boys. They’re trouble.” I couldn’t stop myself from glancing into the kitchen, where I caught a quick flash of Mark’s immaculate ass, cupped perfectly by those black dress trousers of his. When I could speak again I finished my thought. “And this particular boy looks like far too much trouble for me to handle.”
“You’re just letting your inner control freak take over, Luce.”
“As if I have anything but control freak within me.”
“True. But you need a housemate. Mark needs a… a house.”
“And what was that?”
“What?”
“That hesitation. What is it that you’re not telling me?”
She waved away my concern. “Oh, it’s nothing, really. Why don’t you ask yourself exactly what your problem is here?”
“Did you see how he looked at me when he came in? And you feel how he seems to fill the place? It’s like he’s already moved in.” I waved both arms randomly at the kitchen door. “He’s just so… everything!” Toni raised an eyebrow. “It made sense in my head, okay?”
Toni moved in closer to me so she could lower her voice. “I understand, Luce. Mark has all your danger signs. He’s handsome, he’s charismatic, he’s charming. Just like Cameron. But unlike that toolbag, he also has a conscience and a heart.” She held my hand, in almost exactly the same way I’d held hers when I was ogling her engagement ring. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course, T.”
“Then you should know I wouldn’t even have suggested this, let alone pushed so hard, if he was any kind of bastard. I know what you’re scared of. I do. I threw out three pounds of your snot when you broke up with Cameron. But Mark? He’s one of the good guys.”
The man himself called out from the kitchen. “Hey, I’m almost done in here. You better wrap up whatever you’re saying about me or I’ll overhear it.”
Toni smiled and called back. “We’re just wondering if you have any tan lines.”
I slapped her arm and put my other hand over my mouth. “Oh, don’t, Toni. He’s going to think…”
“That you’re crushing on him already? Trust me, he’s used to that. Hey, I just got engaged and I’m still crushing on him. I can see you are, too.”
Before I could bluster out a denial, Mark walked out with my tea tray. He’d set the pot in the very centre and placed a cup each in two corners of the tray for balance and symmetry. In the other two corners he had the milk jug and the honey pot. Almost exactly as I would do it, except I’d have put the honey on the left. In any case, it caught my eye and made me wonder again just how much coaching Toni had given him.
Placing the tray on the coffee table, he indicated the sofa and invited us to join him. It felt like he’d already begun the invasion stage.
“Um… you know you don’t live here yet, right?”
“Of course, Lucy. But I’m a big proponent of the ‘fake it ’til you make it’ philosophy. I’m trying to alter your psyche until you can’t imagine any scenario other than me moving in.”
“Ri–ight.”
He flashed that annoyingly beautiful smile at me again and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back. Why did he have to be so damn personable and attractive? My brain was ordering me to reject him, but the rest of my body had other ideas. Stupid, treacherous hormones!
Toni and I sat on the sofa across from him, setting ourselves up like job interviewers. Mark bent and picked up the teapot.
“Lucy, you take yours with a dash of milk and a drizzle of honey, right?”
“Th–that’s right.” Again I glanced at Toni. I still hadn’t worked out her agenda, but it was clear that, in her head, this was a done deal.
He filled my cup to exactly three-quarters and then turned to Toni. “White with two?”
She nodded and he prepared hers, then sat back down.
“Aren’t you having any, Mark?” I asked.
“Oh, no. I’m a coffee drinker. Never developed a taste for tea.”
“Hmm...”
For some reason that felt like a strike against him. I’d never taken to coffee, either the taste or the smell. But if he moved in he’d be filling the house with the pungent aroma of brewing beans. On the other hand, if it masked the smell of sweaty gym socks, then perhaps it was something I could live with.
He ran a hand back through his hair as he put one leg up over the other. It almost seemed he was part of the furniture. “Yeah, I worked my way through college as a barista. I even thought about giving away the studies and buying a little place of my own.”
“Why didn’t you?” That interested me more than a little, since essentially I’d done the same thing, only with books instead of beans.
Mark shrugged, with his eyebrows as much as his shoulders. “Practicality, I guess. There’s a zillion cafés out there, all fighting for a limited number of customers. Until the zombie apocalypse hits, people are always gonna need IT experts.”
Toni chugged half her tea and put her cup down, looking from Mark to me and back again. “Look, let’s cut the crap, okay? Luce, you need someone to move in ASAP. Mark needs somewhere to live, like, yesterday. I know you guys have only just met, but I’ve known you both for years. You’ll suit each other. Trust me.”
“That’s not strictly true.”
I glanced over at Mark. “Sorry?”
“We have met before.”
I shook my head. “No. No, we haven’t.” I knew that for sure, simply because if we had, he’d have featured in every erotic dream I’d had from that moment on.
“I’m not surprised you don’t remember. It was at our work Halloween party last year. You went with Toni, because Robert couldn’t make it. You were dressed in black and you must have dyed your hair for the occasion. That’s why I thought you were a brunette.”
Scanning my brain, I strove to recall the night in question. I suddenly cringed as it came back to me. It happened to have been exactly one month since I’d sent Cameron packing. Pretty much my only memory of the evening was how quickly the vodka in my glass kept evaporating. “Oh, god. That’s right. I didn’t hurl on your shoes or anything, did I?”
“No, you weren’t that drunk.”
“Huh. We must have met early in the evening then.”
“Yeah, we did. But I meant you wouldn’t remember because I was in costume. Frankenstein’s monster. It was pretty lame, but I don’t usually go to those things. I didn’t really have the hang of it.”
“That was you?” I’d been halfway down that slippery slope of sweet, sweet alcohol at the time. “Did...we talk at all?” I bit my lip, hoping I hadn’t embarrassed myself.
He chuckled lightly. “Yep. You said my costume was probably an improvement on my real face.”
“Oh, god.” I hid behind my hands, peeking through my fingers at Toni who could barely contain her giggling. “I didn’t really say that, did I?”
She just shrugged. “I don’t know. I was racing you to the bottom of the bottle. Plus I believe I spent most of the night sexting Robert from one of the private offices. But given what was happening in your life at that point, then yeah. It sounds like the kind of thing you’d say.”
Then my memory clicked. That’s why his scent had seemed familiar as he’d walked in. There had been a hint of bourbon on his breath that night, but his blend of cologne and detergent had squirreled into my subconscious. I remembered, though, that it was the rich masculine tang of a healthy young man that had really shaken me. That must have been why I’d insulted him.
I’d been scared of how delicious he’d smelled, and how warm it made me feel. Again, all because of Cameron and his hound-hose.
“Well, Mark. Please accept my apologies. I was in a bad place at the time and I didn’t mean to call you ugly.”
He held up his hand and smiled. “No need. I get it all the time.”
“Really?”
Toni’s laughter sounded almost nervous. “Come on, Mark. Luce doesn’t know you yet. She can’t tell when you’re fooling around.”
His smile never wavered, but he stared straight into my eyes. “Sorry, Lucy. I’m just yanking your chain.”
I rearranged myself on the couch and smoothed out my skirt, suddenly feeling like an uptight schoolmarm. “Well, fine. But do you ever take anything seriously?”
“Yeah, I do. I don’t think it comes across that way, though. People seem to think I’m fooling around, even when I’m not.”
“Well, I do take things seriously, Mark. Things like rent, bills, order, privacy and hygiene. How are you on those little matters?”
“Rent? Impeccable. I always pay my share and always on time. Bills? Honestly, if it’s not in my face I can be a little hazy.”
“That’s not so good.”
“It’ll be fine as long as I get reminders.”
“I’m not your mother.”
Toni giggled. “Ooh...burn!”
Mark gave her a loose wave. “Anyway. Order? I’m...okay at order.”
I clicked my tongue. “Mark, it’s very much black and white. Either something is in order, or it’s not. There are no half-measures when it comes to order.”
His eyes seemed to caress mine and his tempting lips curled into another delicious grin. “This could be a lot of fun, then. But I tell you what...I will make every effort to keep the house in order. If you let me move in, of course.” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees, puffing out the shoulders of his suit jacket and making it seem as though he filled even more of my house. “Privacy is important to me too, Lucy. Honestly, I’m a good housemate. Maybe even excellent. I have no interest in making you uncomfortable. Which leads to hygiene. I shower every day, sometimes twice. I’m good in the laundry and I’m a gun with an iron. And if you like, you can take a whiff of my armpits.”
